Explosive-gas determinator.



A. NI DIEHL L W. AHLEN.

EXPLOSIVE GAS DETERMINATOR.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. I, 1909.

' INvEN-rong CLVI. @QQ/I9.,

w I TN s s s I: s

4 OMIM.

A. N. DIEHL & W. AHLEN.

` EXPLOSIVE GAS DETERMINATOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-1,1909.

l l 50,505., Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W'TNESSES 54 4 lNvENTons Om. @LM

/M LA r i A. N. DIEHL L W. AHLEN.

EXPLOSIVE GAS DETERMINATOH.

APPLICATloN FILED 0cT.1,19o9.

Patented A110". 17, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET s.

1. knvrnhv n u r.. uv...

INVENTOR@ a. n MM, Um QMM.

A. N. DIEHL L W. AHLEN.

EXPLOSIVE GAS DETERMINATOR.

APPLlCATlON FILED OCT. l. 1909.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

nunnnuu WITNESSES A. N. DIEHL & W. AHLEN.

EXPLOSIVE GAS DETERMINATOR.

APPLlcAnoN FILED ocT.1, 1909.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

MWI; 0mm. (xdmnm. Mms @mm1-51%.

AMBROSE N. DIEHL AND WILLIAMAHLEN, 0F DUQUESNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

EXPLOSIVE-GAS DETERMINATOR.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, v11.9115.

Application led 0ctober 1, 1909. f Serial No. 520,488.

T0 all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known thatwe, AMBRosE N. DIEHL and VILLIAM AHLEN, both ofDuquesne, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful Explosive-Gas Determinator, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhich- Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showingapparatus constructed and arranged in accordance with our invention;Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of theapparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2, showing the pumping cylinders and theexplosion cylinder of the determnator; Fig. L is a detail sectionalelevation on the line IV-IV of Fig. 2 of one of the pumping cylinders,showing the arrangement of the inlet and outlet valves to the cylinder;Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation showing the adjustable link 'mechanismby which the stroke of the piston in one of the pumping cylinders isadjusted to vary the volume of the cylinder; Fig. 6 is a transversesection on the line VI-VI of Fig. 5 showing the means for locking theend of the piston rod in its adjusted position on the rocking link; Fig.7 is a top plan view of the explosion cylinder into which the gaseouspressure is delivered by the pumping cylinders, Fig. 8 is a longitudinalsectional side elevation of the same taken on the line VIII-VIII of Fig.7; Fig. 9 is a transverse section of the cylinder shown in Figs. 7 and8, taken on the irregular-line IX-IX of Fig. 8 showing the igniter by.which explosive mixtures are caused to explode. v v

Our invention relates to mechanism employed for determining the quantityor percentage of gas and air contained in fuel gas-mains and to givewarning when the proportions approach the point when the mixture becomesexplosive and in this Way preventing serious explosions in the fuel gasmains, damage to surrounding property and possible loss of life.

The gases generated in gas producers and the modern blast furnace plant,which is a gas producer on an extremely large scale carry a large amountof finely divided solid materials in suspension therein which becomedeposited in thegas mains, in which the gases are conducted to the placeof use.

The gas mains must be cleaned at intervals, in order to remove thedeposited solid v materials. In cleaning the gas mains, should thecleaning doors be left open too/long or should they be closedimproperly, the leakage of air into the gas mains may be sutlicient toform an explosive mixture of gas and air. With such an occurrence, thereis great danger of an explosion when the gases are ignited at the gasburners of the hot blast stoves or boilers or at the gas engines orother place of use. An explosion is also possible in cases where a slipin a blast furnace which is a frequent occurrence, disarranges thefurnace bell and hopper or the explosion doors and permits the entranceof large quantities of air into the gas mains or by leakage of air intothe mains when such blast furnaces are temporarily closed down or arebanked for an indefinite time.

The object of our invention is to provide mechanism for determining theproportions of gas and air contained in the gas mains and indicatingwhen such mixture is or approaches one Which is explosive, and in thisWay prevent the occurrence of possible serious explosions.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus having means forsounding yan alarm and for showing a visible signal when the amount ofair in the gases of the gas mains reaches a predetermined ratio orpercentage.

In the drawings 2 represents the base plate of the apparatus havingpumping cylinders 3 and 4 mounted thereon. The trunk pistons 5 and 6 inthe cylinders are connected by piston rods 7 and 8 to one end of thelever arms 9 and 10 which are mounted on vthe rocking shaft 11. Theshaft 11 is secured in the bearing 12 on its support 13 which is mountedupon the base plate 2 and a connecting rod 14 is connected by one end toone end 9a of the lever 9. The opposite end of the rod 14 is attached tothe crank 16 on one end of the worm-Wheel shaft 17, and the worm wheel18 on this shaft is rotated by the worm 19 mounted in the bearin 21'L on'the base plate 2, the worm being driven by the motor 2O also mounted onthe base plate.

The upper end .of the piston rod 8 is adjustably secured to the slottedarm or link which is threaded into the extension 21 on the head of thepin 21. The outer face of the slotted link 10 is graduated so as toindicate the stroke of the piston in the several positions of the rod onthe link 11.

The single acting cylinders 3 and 4 are provided on their lower endswith inlet valves 24 and outlet valves 25 which close the inlet ports 26and outlet ports 27, being normally held seated by means of the springs28 and 29. The outlet ports 27 on fthe cylinders 3 and 4 are connectedby the pipe 30 to the combustion chamber 31 of the explosion cylinder 31and the cylinder inlet ports 26 are connected by the pipes 32 and 33with the pipe 34 which is connected to the gas main. The pipes 32 and 33are each provided with a gas valve 35 and air valve 36 through which airor gas can be admitted to and shut ofi' from either of the pumpingcylinders 3 or 4. Also mounted on the base plate 2 of the apparatus isan explosion cylinder 31 having a reciprocating v piston 31b which isyieldingly pressed forward into the cylinder 31 by thespring 37 whichembraces the guide rod 38 of the piston 32 and is held in position bythe guide support 39, on the cylinder 31. The cylinder 31 is providedwith an exhaust port 31 through which the compressed iuids escape, thespring permitting the piston 31" to move sufficiently to uncover thisport at each compression stroke of the cylinder pistons. Located in theforward or combustion chamber end of the explosion cylinder 31 is a gasigniter, which, as shown, is formed of astationary finger-40a and amovable finger 41 the end of the finger 41a being sprlng pressed intoengagement with the bent end of the finger 40B. The upper end of eachfinger is provided with a terminal 40-41 connected to the conductors 42and 43 which supply electrical current to the fingers from any suitablebattery or source of electrical energy. Pivotallymounted on the cylinder3l is a lever 44 one end of which engages with and lifts the movablefinger 41B.

A spring 45 is provided to normally hold the lever 44 in the positionshown and return it to this position each time it is rocked on its pivotpin 44. The outer end of the lever 44 is located in the path ofthe lowerend of the rod 14 connected to the crank 16 so as to be contacted by andde ressed at each revolutio'n of the crank sha t 17 this operationlifting the inner end of the nger 41* and making a gap between thefingers 40 and 41, across which gap the electric current will jump andform a spark and ignite or fire an explosive mixture in the cylinder 31.The end of the guide rod 38 is arranged to contact with and strike the'clapper 46 which is pivoted to the guide sup ort 39, when impelledforwardly by an exp os1on in the cylinder, and cause the clapper tostrike the bell or gong 47 on the guide support. The guide support 39 isalso provided with contacts 48 and 49 which are contacted by the end ofthe guide rod 38 when the piston is moved outwardly in the cylinder 31.When such contact is effected a circuit is completed through theconductors 50 and 51 secured to the contacts 48, 49, and a lamp 54 orseries of lamps. The lamps become and remain lighted so long as the endof the rod 38 is in position to complete the circuit throughthe'contacts 48, 49. A pin 52 is arranged to move downwardly in anopening through the side wall of the cylinder 31 and hold the piston atthe end of its outward stroke until releasedi manually and the spring 53is provided to move the pin 52 downwardly in the cylinder when itsmovement is permitted by the position of the piston.

In the operation of our improved apparatus, the motor 20 is started andthe inlet valves are set to admit air and gas each into the desiredcylinder. The stroke of the piston 5 is constant while that of thepiston 6 in the cylinder 4 is adjustable, to enable varying amounts ofthe fluid being compressed being drawn into this cylinder. The stroke ofthe piston is changed by shifting the pin 21 on the link 10 so as tovary the distance between thecenters of the pin 21 and rock shaft 11, inthis way providing means for varying the volume of Huid compressed inthis cylinder, while always moving the piston 6 forwardly so as to expelall of the compressed fluid from the cylinder, no matter what be thelength of stroke of the piston. The face of the link 10 is graduated soas to indicate the length of the stroke of the piston 6, with differentpositions of the pin 21 on the link 10, in this way showing the varyingvolumes of fluid delivered from the cylinder 4. As the volume of Huiddelivered by the cylinder 3 is constant, the percentage of the mixturedelivered into the explosion chamber by each cylinder is easily andquickly determined. It will be noted that as shown the pistons move inthe same direction simultaneously. At each stroke of the pistons aconstant volume of fluid from one cylinder and a volume which can bevaried from the other cylinder is delivered through the pipes 30 intothe explosion cylinder. When the lower end of the connecting rod 14 hasreached its lowest position it will have moved the lever 44 so as tolift the movable finger 418L of the lgniter so as to produce a sparkwithin the combustion chamber of the explosion cylinder. When theinixture in the combustion chamber is explosive, an explosion willoccur, which will force the piston 32 outwardly so as to compress thespring 37, bring the end of the rod 38 into engagement with the clapper46 and ring the bell 47 and also complete the circuit between thecontacts 48 and 49, so as to cause the lamps in the circuit to burn.Where the piston has been moved past the pin 52 the spring 53 forces thepin inwardly and the end of the piston on its return movement willengage with the side of the pin, and prevent its moving backward untilthe pin is lifted. out of engagement with the piston. The pipes 32, 33,34 and valves 35 and 36 are arranged to supply either gas or air toeither cylinder 3 or 4 as is desired in this Way permitting thepercentage of` air in the gases in the mains to be determined from zeroto 100 per cent. Should one of the cylinders be arranged to deliver aconstant volume of gases from the mains and 20 per cent. of this volumeof air be added in the explosion chamber by the other cylinder suchmixture should explode at every discharge stroke of the pistons andwould indicate a perfect gas. By then moving the pin Ql-on the link 10to shorten thestroke of the piston-a smaller amount of air will becontained in the mixture supplied to the combustion chamber and theexplosions should cease. Should they however, continue, this willindicate that the gases drawn from the main contain air. By again movingthe pin 21 on the link l() to further shorten the stroke of the pistonthe amount of air necessary to add to that contained in the gases in thegas mains in order 4to form an explosive mixture will be indicated. Forexample, when the stroke of the adjustable piston has been set so as toadd 10 per cent. of air to the gases supplied from the mains to thecombustion chamber and the explosions still occur in the explosioncylinder, the l0 per cent. of air necessary to form an explosive mixturemust be present in the gases drawn from the gas main. This wouldindicate leakage of air into the gas mains to an extent which should beprevented.

The advantages of our invention will be apparent to those skilled in theart. The apparatus is simple and is easily kept in reair.

Modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts may bemade without departing from our invention.

We claim:

l. An explosive gas determinator comprising pumping cylinders havinginlet and outlet ports, pistons' within the cylinders, one having afixed and the other a variable throw, means connecting the inlet portswith a fuel gas main and one with an air supply, an explosion chamberconnected with the outlet ports, an outlet port on the chamber to permitescape of gases delivered thereinto from the cylinders, means for ringexplosive mixtures delivered into the explosion chamber, and mechanismfor indicating the ignition of an explosive mixture in the chamber. f

2. An explosive gas determinator comprising pumping cylinders havinginlet and outlet ports, pistons within the cylinders, means forimparting a fixed throw to one of the pistons and a variable throw tothe other one, means connecting the outlet ports, one with a fuel gasmain and one with an air supply, an explosion chamber connected with theoutlet ports, an outlet port on the chamber to permit escape of gasesdelivered thereinto from the cylinders, means for iring explosivemixtures delivered into the explosion chamber, and mechanism forindlca-ting the ignition of an explosive mixture in the chamber, suchmechanism being adapted to show the occurrence of an explosion f-or anindefinite time interval.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

A.. N. DIEHL. WILLIAM AHLEN. Witnesses:

GEO. T. NEFF, T. E. McDoWELL.

